


Eden

by 30Morgause04



Category: His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman, The Golden Compass (2007)
Genre: Age Difference, F/F, Femslash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-20
Updated: 2019-06-03
Packaged: 2019-07-14 19:34:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16047134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/30Morgause04/pseuds/30Morgause04





	1. Chapter 1

_Eden._ A perfect name for a perfect girl. Paradise in one girl. The only person who could outwit the great Marisa Coulter. Just as clever, just as utterly elusive and just as beautiful. Long, black hair that fell down her shoulder in waves. Pale skin, unblemished. She was once all legs like a young colt but now... Now she was perfect. Marisa's perfect, little paradise. 

 

She always knew where she was and Marisa never asked how. The night before she was due to go to Oxford to find her Lyra, Eden appeared. It was raining outside. A storm. Marisa was alone, as per usual. Eden appeared on her balcony with that smug, elusive, insufferable smirk. 

"Alone again?" she drawled, her head cocked to the side as she leaned on the doorframe. Marisa smiled as she poured two glasses of wine. 

"Not for much longer," Marisa replied. She heard a scoff. 

"I'm jealous." Marisa turned, eyebrow raised. It was usually her who was the jealous one. Eden always had every right to be jealous since Marisa had as many lovers as she did allies. 

"Of who? She asked. 

"Lyra. She's wild, you know." Marisa's smirk fell. Eden was smiling. She always did when she was one step in front of Marisa. 

"I didn't but now I'm wondering how you do," she said, handing the girl a glass of wine. Eden leaned in.

"It wouldn't do if you knew all my secrets," she whispered. She allowed the girl to kiss her. Her lips always tasted of cinnamon and apples. The smell of rain lingered upon her skin. Eden pulled away and sipped her wine. It stained her pale lips red and Marisa felt the sinful ache of lust. "My eyes are up here, Coulter." Marisa met the green eyes. She always called her by her last name when she teased, even though Eden knew she hated it. If anyone else did it, Marisa would have destroyed them in an instant. However, defiance was always so attractive. She set her wine on the side and pulled Eden closer. 


	2. Chapter 2

When Marisa had checked on Lyra to make sure she was in bed, she found her mind wandering to Asriel. The girl looked so much like him and acted so much like him. She tried to think about her qualities but found herself wandering back to Lyra's dialect and her tales of danger. Marisa had had her fair share of danger but they were explorations. Academic pursuits. Observations of the Aurora were dangerous but not the wild chases and thefts that Lyra (and Asriel) had previously described to her. It was as if she was already Asriel's. No. That couldn't be.

She was trying to block this thought stream when she entered her lounge and saw her. 

"You know, having a portrait of yourself is a bit narcissistic?" Eden drawled, that irresistible smirk upon her face.

"I'm not in the mood for you tonight, Eden," Marisa replied, coldly, moving over to the corner to retrieve a glass of wine. Eden pretended her tone didn't hurt.

"Wow, Lyra has made you a spoilsport," she retorted, drawing her fingers across the mantle of the fireplace.

"No. I am allowed to have evenings to myself, without you bothering me." Eden spun around, anger flaring in her blue-green eyes.

"Bothering you? You have a precocious kid in your house but no, I'm bothering you by simply talking to you," she spat out. Marisa's eye narrowed.

"Lyra is not precocious." Eden rolled her eyes.

"Sure, Risa," she growled. Eden walked over to the corner and slung her backpack over her shoulder.

"Where are you going?" Marisa asked, quietly. She felt anger (fuelled by maternal love of course) bubble inside her but she didn't want Eden tearing off into the night, angry at her.

"Do you not want me to leave?" Eden asked, smiling but her smile was angry and slightly crazed. Marisa tried to stay calm. 

"I don't want you to know you're still angry with me when you go," _Because, god knows when you'll come back,_ she thought.

"Frightened I won't come back? Maybe I won't. Maybe I will leave you playing Happy Families with your precocious, long lost daughter," she mocked, sneering. Marisa hated it. She hated it when someone had the audacity to mock her. Especially when she was unable to destroy them. 

"Why are you so angry with Lyra? You don't know her," she demanded. 

"Maybe because I know how this turns out. How it always turns out," Eden muttered, checking through her bag before moving towards the balcony. 

"What do you mean?" Marisa demanded but Eden ignored her. Marisa grabbed her wrist and forced her to face and answer her. 

"Come off it, Risa. You got tired of your husband and found yourself with Asriel. Asriel took your kid and ran off and suddenly, you have a new burst of loyalty to the church. You grow tired of the church so you find yourself with me. Then you decide you want to play Mum and that means I'm out of the picture."

"Are you jealous?" Marisa asked, already knowing the answer and already knowing how that was entirely the wrong thing to say. The latter was confirmed when the anger left Eden's eyes and she pulled herself up straight and smiled, coldly.

"One question, Marisa: How did jealousy turn out last time for you and Lyra?" It took a few second for Marisa to catch her meaning. "You lost her. Do you really want that to happen again?" Silence passed between them. Eden opened the door and Marisa gave in. 

"She doesn't know," she whispered. 

"What?"

"Lyra doesn't know that I'm her mother." Marisa cursed herself for saying it but, when Eden came forward and shut the door behind her, it felt slightly better. 


End file.
